On 4 February Pratt & Whitney's F135 powerplant suffered a turbine blade failure, the second since August 2007 - and on the same day that the alternate GE/R-R F136 engine was again submitted for cancellation. The P&W engine in question, Flight Test Engine (FTE) 6, was due to power the first flight of the F-35B STOVL variant, the most technically challenging variant of the JSF. A previous failure of the F135 in August caused an extended delay to the first flight of AA-1, the CTOL F-35A.
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